Russia, South Africa Seek to Create OPEC-Style Platinum Bloc

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Russia and South Africa, countries that hold about 80 percent of platinum group metal reserves, plan to set up an OPEC-type trading bloc to coordinate exports.

“It can be called an OPEC,” Russian Natural Resources Minister Sergey Donskoy said late yesterday in an interview in Durban. “Our goal is to coordinate our actions accordingly to expand the markets. The price depends on the structure of the market, and we will form the structure of the market.”

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Other nations would be able to join the group. The U.S., Zimbabwe and Canada are among producers of the metals.

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South African Mines Minister Susan Shabangu said the deal sought to counter oversupply of platinum, possibly through taxes and incentives. “We’re not really controlling the market,” she said in an interview in Durban. “We want to contribute without creating a cartel, but we want to influence the markets.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-26/russia-south-africa-seek-to-create-opec-style-platinum-bloc.html